Buffalo Public Schools

At Wednesday's Buffalo School Board meeting, the long struggle over getting more minority and women-owned businesses among the vendors to the district system turned into a discussion about using student labor.

Hidden away on a short street in North Buffalo is a school, housing a successful adult education program. The school system says the building is old and tired and might be dangerous, so the program has to move - and that has precipitated a fight.

Buffalo Public Schools are buying more and more computers for students, as the district works on a $56 million technology plan to get one laptop or tablet to every student and install WiFi antennas on the growing network of community schools to serve the surrounding communities.

Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash told the School Board Wednesday night that BUILD Academy is not the worst school in the state, no matter what test scores show. However, the school is in rough shape and its future is uncertain.

The State Education Department says more than 95 percent of schools in receivership made "demonstrable improvement" in the 2016-17 school year. However, BUILD Academy in Buffalo is one of two New York schools in receivership that did not improve enough and will now be placed under an Independent Receiver.

The Buffalo Public School system is constantly negotiating union contracts with some organization, with the recent contract with the Buffalo Teachers Federation establishing a framework. Wednesday night, the School Board heard protests from the substitutes union and a separate dispute over the parent facilitators, a relatively new position in the school system.

As Buffalo Public Schools near the start of the long process for admission to the city's criteria school next year, the district is asking city residents to come up with ideas for improving racial and ethnic diversity in the schools.

Parent Facilitators, who recently learned they're out of a job with the Buffalo Public Schools, are calling for the program's restoration. Advocates say the facilitators played an important role in city schools.

School bells were ringing Tuesday morning for thousands of Western New York children who started a new school year. In Buffalo, public school officials led invited guests on a tour of a handful of schools, hoping to show them how the dollars secured from their respective governments are impacting the students.

The New York Civil Liberties Union announced Tuesday morning the settlement of a federal lawsuit against the Buffalo City School District for what it charged was "the open and systematic discrimination of LGBTQ students at McKinley High School."

Among the petitions decided Friday by the New York State Education Commissioner was a request from the District Parent Coordinating Council to remove Buffalo Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash and all School Board members. The Commissioner denied the request on "procedural grounds," but the DPCC is not expected to re-submit its petition.

The Buffalo Teachers Federation and city school district are in a dispute over start times at three schools. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says the teachers union has filed a lawsuit against the district and Schools Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash.

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WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says the teachers union has filed a lawsuit against the district and Schools Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash over start times at three city schools.

Local education leaders plan to meet Tuesday night with parents from Buffalo's persistently low achieving schools. The city's District Parent Coordinating Council is continuing its effort to help turnaround failing schools.

"What we want to do as parents is be proactive and make sure we are understand everything that is going on, said Sam Radford is vice president of the parent council.